The Course of True Love
by big red balloon
Summary: Naruto was suffering from unrequited love. The only problem was, he wasn't the one in love.
1. Chapter 1

I'm one of those people who writes a lot of crap fic and actually enjoys posting it up. Quantity always trumps quality!

**The Course of True Love**  
_No one said it was smooth sailing!_

…

"I love you."

Naruto had been on the receiving end of many confessions of love. Not that he could ever compete with Sasuke, mind you, but he had his fair share.

His favorite had been the time one girl, a third degree black belt in something (and Naruto believed it! That girl was _ripped_) had sashayed – monkey style – towards him before class one day, rose in mouth, chocolates in hand, before romantically flipping him onto his back and dislocating his shoulder. Granted, the dislocation had been an accident. And she'd never spoken to him ever again. But he would've gone out with her if only she'd had the nerve to ask him again. Actually, Naruto never knew what happened to her since she never came back to class after that. Where did she go…?

Anyway. Then there had been that one time, when another girl, who apparently worked as a zookeeper at the local zoo, had ridden out elephant-back with the words "Marry me, Naruto!" spray painted along one side of the poor, hulking animal. Security tackling her from the back of the confused elephant had been the highlight of Naruto's whole damn month. He'd never learned her name, but it came as a close second to his favorite confessions.

Or maybe his favorite had been the time someone had gone through Sasuke to get to him for once. The look on Sasuke's face had been worth it. Kind of. Because, truthfully, Sasuke's expression never changed. But Naruto liked to think his internal facial expression had blown a gasket over the fact someone's world didn't revolve around him. Actually, she had been pretty sweet. He'd dated her for a few weeks. In other words, it didn't last. But that wasn't the point.

The point was, Naruto was a great catch, if he didn't mind tooting his own horn. He knew he was good looking, had matured out of the awkward middle and high school years into a strong adult body. So, normally, Naruto was happy to receive such confessions. It took guts. Real guts that deserved his full attention and consideration.

The point was, Naruto, who had received many confessions – never as many as Sasuke – and had dealt many rejections – never as many as Sasuke – and had accept many proposals – for once, way more than Sasuke – was, for the first time in possibly his entire life, absolutely floored.

Because the one confessing to him was none other than his best friend, receiver of one million love confessions and acceptor of none, Sasuke fucking "leave me alone, I'm a douchebag who doesn't think you're worth my time" Uchiha.

"Naruto."

_What?_

"I love you."

* * *

"Just give him a chance," Sakura said as she twirled her straw uselessly around the glass.

Naruto tried not to glare as he slurped from his own. He straightened to stare her in the eyes. This would require some serious thought.

"What good will that do? I don't want to get his hopes up. For fuck's sake, this is my best friend we're talking about. I can't just, you know, stop seeing him once shit goes bad. And the shit is going to go bad, believe me."

"You don't know that!"

Somehow, Sakura didn't quite understand that Naruto had never once expressed any interest in men, let alone Sasuke. This was unusual, because Sakura was a smart girl. Or so he had thought. But it was what he liked about her. Before five minutes ago, when he realized she was not that smart.

When he had told Sasuke, "I'll think about it," what he had actually meant was, "No way in hell." Apparently, Sakura too held firm in the belief that Naruto was actually going to think about it.

"Look Sakura. I'm not interested. I mean, the thought of someone's dick shoved up my ass really doesn't appeal to me."

"Naruto!" Sakura sound scandalized. Naruto almost grinned at her furiously blushing face. "You don't, you don't have to _sleep_ with him!"

"You can stop imagining it then, please."

The blushed darkened and Sakura defended unconvincingly, "Shut up!"

* * *

Contrary to whatever Sakura failed to make Naruto believe, she _had_ thought about it and imagined _it_ rather explicitly several times. Many times. So many times that she had freaked herself out. It wasn't that she was some giant perve, fantasizing about her two best friends. She just, well. Okay, maybe she was a little pervy, but it was completely unintentional.

She considered them nightmares at first. The whole world knew she had been in love with Sasuke until grade eight and maybe a third of their tight circle of friends knew she had been in love with Naruto from then up until when they graduated high school. It was just her luck that her first crush would crush on her second crush.

Lame. Not that she was still in love with either of them, but lame nonetheless. And besides the point. The point was, Sasuke had confessed to her one day. It was a weird sentence. Sasuke confessed. To her. Until one broke it down, that is.

He didn't confess _to_ her. He hadn't even confessed to her _about Naruto. _Sasuke always had that stupid little (attractive) frown on his face that only went away whenever Naruto was around. It was sort of cute and what she took to be his grand declaration of undying love for his best friend.

And then he had gone and done it. He had confessed – _verbally_, mind you – and literally blown Naruto's socks off. She meant literally too, because Naruto showed up barefoot at her house to give her the great (she thought so, anyway) news. Where did his socks go? Did he try to choke Sasuke with them? No, nevermind, not the point.

The _real_ point was, Naruto was a pretty damn good catch, one that could maybe make Sasuke happy and, most importantly, himself in turn.

Naruto was a good guy that made people feel better about themselves. It was more than the simple, "Hey, you look hot today, Sakura," which never hurt, of course. It was the way he made people believe in themselves, brought out their inner beauty by forcing people to confront their insecurities. It was what had made her fall in love with him in the first place, after countless cruel rejections from Sasuke (which she knew she deserved; she was young and naïve, damn it!).

She was confident it was that exact charm that had drawn Sasuke out of his shell after his dark middle school days. Sure, they had fought a lot, taking turns sending each other to the infirmary but she had seen the immediate afters of one their fights: up alone on the rooftop, they had sat staring up at the sky in companiable silence. She hadn't been able to intrude and instead walked home alone. It was the kind of friendship that came once in a blue moon: two people so absolutely perfect for each other.

If Sasuke and Naruto as best friends were perfect, what could they be as lovers?

Sakura knew the answer. She knew Sasuke knew the answer.

And she would be damned if she let Naruto mess it all up.


	2. Chapter 2

Whew! You guys are a tough crowd – not a single review! Ah, whatever. I'm not so conceited as to hold back chapters for reviews (because, um, I know it wouldn't work :() so here's chapter two, considerably earlier than expected.

**The Course of True Love**  
_Here comes the shit storm!_

…

Twice.

Not once. _Twice._

He had said it twice.

The first time the words had slipped between clenched teeth, Sasuke had nearly let his expression drop. The pit in his stomach had exploded into what would likely develop into ulcers later. But when Naruto had gotten that dazed look in his eyes, one that told Sasuke that his thoughts were miles away from their current physical location, he had been forced to draw his attention again. It had been then that the second utterance of _those words_ occurred.

"Naruto – " you stupid shit " – I love you."

Maybe if Naruto had heard the interjection, he wouldn't have told him rather unconvincingly that he would think about it. But he hadn't, and so he did. And that was all that mattered.

...

So here's what "thinking about it" had turned into: Sasuke never calling, Naruto avoiding the not calls, and Sakura ragging on Naruto to invite Sasuke on a date.

Why it became his responsibility to initiate such a thing was beyond him. After all, if Sasuke was the one in love, shouldn't he be the one doing all the wooing too? It was a fair, sound conclusion, he thought. It was how all romances went.

In the end, Sakura forced his little buttocks onto the sofa, forced his phone into a sweaty palm, and forced Naruto to call the person he was avoiding but who wasn't even making an effort to follow up on his _life. changing. confession. _Well, the beginning part of _that_ conversation didn't go very well.

After taking a few minutes to calm down, Naruto called back. It went relatively well, considering.

"_What_?"

"Hello to you too, you fucktard."

"Why are you calling?"

"Let's go out. This Friday. 8pm."

"..."

"Great. I'll pick you up at your place."

"Hn."

"Great. Awesome. So I'll see you then."

"Yea."

And that was that. So somehow, two weeks after Sasuke confessed to feelings neither one ever thought would exist, Naruto took the bastard out on a date. And as far as first dates went, Sasuke (or should he say, Naruto) was doing a damn fine job.

Dinner at his favorite ramen stand had appealed to all the right senses. Casual conversations made him relaxed, like it was just another guy's night out. Sasuke was acting like a complete douche, making him forget all the icky lovey dovey crap.

All in all, it was the best gay date he had ever had.

Right up until the moment Sasuke tried to kiss him. Naruto only slightly regretted the fist that managed to connect with Sasuke's unsuspecting face.

...

"You _punched_ him?"

Things were not going well. Only one date in and Naruto was already ruining Sakura's plans for his happily ever after future spectacularly well. Well, Naruto always was one to rise beyond expectations. Too bad his best traits also just happened to be his worst traits at times.

The boy had the decency to try and hide the self-satisfied look from her knowing eyes.

"It's not something to be proud of," Sakura reprimanded, crossing her arms with an unforgiving frown between her brows. She began to appeal to Naruto's sensitive side. "Imagine how much it took for him to get the nerve to do it. You've probably damaged his pride beyond repair."

As soon as Naruto opened his mouth, she glared harder. "If you dare try to say that's a good thing, I'll kick you so hard you'll never have children. Do you think he's ever going to want to spar with you after that humiliation?"

Oh, she was definitely onto something if that frown was anything to go by. Truthfully, Sasuke probably wouldn't appreciate her tearing his reputation to shreds with her words. In fact, he'd probably kick _her_ so hard she would never have children. Even so, she was doing this for his happiness. He'd understand. One day. Hopefully.

She decided to lay it on thick.

"You've essentially lost your one and only rival. How are you going to get through the day without a fight with Sasuke to spur you on?"

The frown was definitely more pronounced and Sakura almost felt bad for the downtrodden look that suddenly sparked in his eyes, "What should I do?"

"Easy. Let him know you're okay with it. With him."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"Figure it out."

Twenty minutes later, Naruto had it all figured out and was standing outside Sasuke's door. When Sasuke opened the door, he grinned, correctly guessing that Sasuke would try to slam the door in his face. With one hand against the frame and the other against the door, Naruto tried to force his way in. It was a brief struggle until Sasuke gave up and Naruto tumbled in.

So far, so good. Everything was going according to plan.

"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto called from his position on the floor, holding back an expectant wince that turned out to be for nothing when Sasuke simply stepped over him to walk into the kitchen.

"Sasuke, I have something to say to you."

"I'm not interested," was the reply. Naruto frowned. It didn't seem like Sasuke was all that interested in rummaging through his cupboards either.

"Doesn't matter. Just stop for a second and listen."

When Sasuke didn't turn to face him, Naruto climbed from the floor and made his way into his best friend's personal space. That got his attention quickly enough – Sasuke froze before turning around to glare.

"I think you made it perfectly clear I shouldn't listen to a word you have to say."

Naruto's brows furrowed. "What? Why? Since when? Wait, no, nevermind. Let's not get sidetracked here. I'm here with a purpose."

In response, Sasuke simply raised a skeptical brow. The sight made Naruto roll his eyes and counting quickly to three, he leaned forward and planted his lips right on top of Sasuke's. They remained locked, unmoving, for the entirety of Naruto's one-one-thousand counts up to three before he pulled stiffly away.

Sasuke's expression remained unchanged but Naruto smiled as un-antagonizingly as he knew how.

"There. That's it. That's all I had to say," he turned then and started making his way towards the door.

"See you tomorrow!" he called, throwing a wave over his shoulder. The door slammed shut behind him, leaving a frozen Sasuke standing alone in the kitchen.


End file.
